Community is key in esports’ success, but despite a global basis, recently it’s taken a more geolocated slant. This is mainly driven by the Overwatch League, which attached its inaugural 12 teams to global cities. The result has been an uptake in local viewing parties, and one team owner already building on this momentum is Sterling.VC, the company behind the New York Excelsior franchise. Co-founded by New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon, this is an organization that knows how to tap into local fan bases, and the team pride they rest upon.

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“This Your Team, New York”

The New York Excelsior are currently sitting atop the Overwatch League table, with a commanding lead. Taking the Stage Two finals, and a bonus $100K prize-money to boot, NYXL are all but destined to reach the Championship playoffs in July. But competitive ability alone won’t turn these esports teams into the high-value brands that Blizzard Entertainment envisioned—as do the team owners who spent upwards of $20M to acquire their spots. To do this, the OWL franchises need to build roots in their home cities so that when it’s time to leave the LA Arena nest (at this stage slated for the 2020 season), there will be thousands of fans waiting back home.

Ben Nichol: “This is decentralized, in that the teams all operate out of their home markets.”

“In the short term, that just means trying to meet every gamer I can in the city,” says NYXL head of events and business development, Ben Nichol. “Every influencer, every opinion leader, every tournament organizer, every competitive player I can have a conversation with, I want to.”

Nichol came on board after a few years managing events for Red Bull’s esports division—prior to this he was a commentator for events such as BlizzCon, DreamHack, and the Intel Extreme Masters. He says that when you breakdown “community” as a buzzword in esports, it comes down to 500-1000 people showing up at a warehouse to watch the Houston Outlaws, or a passionate bunch of New Yorkers gathering at a coffee shop to cheer the NYXL.

“This is all happening completely organically,” he says. “When I see that, that’s something we need to react to, and try to empower and support in whatever way we can.”

With the resources you’d expect a Major League Baseball team owner to have, Sterling.VC also wants to try and bring in a wider sports crowd. It was announced last week that Jong-ryeol ‘Saebyeolbe’ Park, the team’s captain, will be throwing the opening pitch at today’s Mets game. “He actually volunteered to do it,” says Nichol. “I think that speaks a little bit to the character of him, and the kind of bullishness, willingness, and competitive spirit that he has.”

Nichol notes that while there was the early experiment that was Championship Gaming Series, the OWL has given New York its first ever esports franchise, and the goal of the baseball crowd introduction is to make the audience aware of this.

“This is decentralized, in that the teams all operate out of their home markets. Quite frankly, the goal is just to show New York that you’ve got the number one Overwatch team in the world representing your city.”

“I think it’s very important that we try as hard as we can to identify great success stories of New York players…”

At one point, we asked about how this all factors into the fact that all the NYXL’s players are native Korean. While it wasn’t surprising when it was first announced—same as in League of Legends, Korea is the most competitive Overwatch region— building a local affinity may be harder with an entirely imported roster. Nichol however, doesn’t feel this makes his job more difficult.

“Especially because of the fact we’re in New York, a very eclectic melting pot of all sorts of people who come from different backgrounds,” he says. “To your point though, I think it’s very important that we try as hard as we can to identify great success stories of New York players who might be worthy of standing on that stage, and wearing that NYXL flag across their chest.”

Nichol adds that it’s certainly Sterling.VC’s goal that in the next decade they can cultivate the ecosystem in a way that allows them to discover and develop local talent. “We’ve already come out with the XL2 Contenders team, there’s a great story of a player from Staten Island named “Midnight” who’s a major player on that team. We are very actively looking for more stories like that one.”

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